Four ECAC teams could earn invites to NCAA tournament

Junior goaltender Troy Grosenick enters the weekend
with a .923 save percentage on the year. (Photo: Union College
Athletics)

As is always the case on conference championship weekend, ECAC
Hockey teams have much to play for starting tonight as they vie for
PairWise positioning and NCAA tournament invitations.

As many as four ECAC Hockey teams could conceivably earn
invitations to the NCAA tournament depending on how the final
weekend plays out. ECAC regular-season champion Quinnipiac
(26-6-5), which hosts seventh-seed Brown this afternoon at
Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., will be looking to earn its
first conference title since joining the league. The Bobcats, who
have been the top-ranked team in the PairWise since mid-January,
are all but certain to lock up the top seed in the NCAA tournament,
which will place them in Providence, R.I., for the opening
round.

The only team that could potentially displace Quinnipiac in the
first round is semifinal opponent Brown. The Bears need to win the
ECAC tournament to earn a trip to the NCAA tournament, but if they
do, they will be the top seed in the East Region. Brown also will
be looking to win its first conference championship.

The other semifinal matchup between third-seeded Yale and
fourth-seeded Union likely includes two NCAA tournament teams. Yale
will be looking for its third ECAC title in five years, and has
likely already clinched its fourth NCAA tournament berth in the
same stretch. Union, the winner of last year's Whitelaw Cup for
ECAC tournament champion, is right on the bubble along with RPI.
But if the top seeds in the other conferences pull through on
championship weekend, Union and RPI could both get in the NCAA
tournament.

Top-seed Quinnipiac received everything it could handle from
Cornell last weekend. The Big Red took the first game on the road,
before getting croaked 10-0 in Game 2. The decisive game went to
double overtime before the Bobcats escaped 3-2. Quinnipiac coach
Rand Pecknold said in a conference call Tuesday his team will have
to expect a similar effort to the one Cornell put forth from the
opposition the rest of the way.

“When you're No. 1 in the country, everybody comes to
play,” Pecknold says. “Everybody wants to knock you off
your perch, and we've dealt with that all year. I don't see that
changing.”

Brown comes into this afternoon's matchup confident after
serving as the only ECAC Hockey team to avoid losing to Quinnipiac
this season. The teams played to a tie in both regular-season
contests.

The Bears have been sparked in the second half of the season by
senior goalie Anthony Borelli, who has posted 13 wins, a 1.87 GAA
and a .942 save percentage since December. Brown coach Brendan
Whittet insisted in the ECAC coaches' conference call this week
that Borelli is not the sole reason his seventh-seeded team is
still alive.

“I would disagree with that wholeheartedly,” Whittet
says. “He's a big part of what we do, but it's not the
Anthony Borelli show.”

Union coach Rick Bennett was not as averse to directing credit
toward his goalie, Troy Grosenick, who carried the Dutchman all the
way to the Frozen Four last season. The Dutchmen are again peaking
at the right time, posting a 6-2 record over their last eight
games.

“It all starts in net,” Bennett said. “Any
time you get to the playoffs, late in the season, you rely on your
goaltender. He’s been playing well throughout the
year.”

Yale has also been sparked by strong goaltending down the
stretch. The Bulldogs lost five in a row in January and February
when goalie Jeff Malcolm was sidelined with an injury. They are
5-0-0 since, and they cruised past St. Lawence last weekend,
outscoring the visitors 9-1 in two games.

Yale coach Keith Allain did not participate in the conference
call Tuesday.